


invulnerable

by pechebaie



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, bday fic :pensive: that i struggled 2 finish bc time, idek how to tag this. they just spend time 2gether
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 14:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18896617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pechebaie/pseuds/pechebaie
Summary: Tendou always spends his birthday weekend with his mom. This year, he spends it with his boyfriend.





	invulnerable

**Author's Note:**

> *gives tendou as much chocolate ice cream as he can eat* happy birthday sir i love you so much T_T

In all his eighteen years, Tendou has never had a real birthday party.

He’d tried before middle school, but it hadn’t worked out (it  _ never _ worked out), so by the time he actually started middle school, he’d already given up. Now, though…

High school is different. Tendou has friends - really, really  _ good _ friends. If he really wanted to have a birthday party - a  _ real _ birthday party like on TV and the kids in books have, with games and all of their friends and a ton of pizza and cake and just generally things Tendou isn’t supposed to be eating in excess because of the volleyball team - then he knows that he could. But it’s just… he’s gone so long without it, so he figures, why start now?

On his birthdays, Tendou either goes to class and practice like normal and doesn’t bother bringing it up (his teammates, though, wish him a happy birthday, and sometimes he gets gifts, and Tendou’ll admit, he likes it), or he stays in with his mom all day and they watch reruns of that old, cheesy drama they both love and eat chocolate ice cream until they feel sick.

This year is different.

Tendou always goes home on the weekend for his birthday, even if that means he’s skipping weekend practice. His mom always waits for him to get home, on the couch and already queueing up their show.

This year, though, when Tendou opens the front door of their apartment and calls out, “I’m home!” his mom isn’t there to answer.

There’s a note on the counter with a handful of bills that says,  _ Satori, I had to run into work last-minute. They couldn’t call anyone else. There’s enough money to order takeout for dinner, or there’s plenty of left-overs in the fridge. Feel free to invite anyone over :) I’ll be home by nine. Happy birthday! Love, mom _

Tendou pockets the note and leaves the money on the counter.

Without his mom, the apartment feels empty. Completely empty. Even during summer break, there’s at least the noises from construction work down the road and from Ito-san’s cat who inevitably makes her way in through Tendou’s open bedroom window to fill the void.

But it’s not summer break. It’s late May, and Tendou’s bedroom window is closed.

It’s almost noon. Tendou isn’t about to skip morning practice, even for his birthday, when his roommate is Semi of all people. It took about an hour to walk from Shiratorizawa to the apartment, but now he’s wondering if he should’ve just stayed at school.

He slouches into the living room attached to the kitchen and flops down on the couch, rests his feet up on their coffee table. The curtains on the window are drawn open, so that Tendou gets a perfect view of the closed ones of the apartment in the neighbouring building.

His hand twitches, but he doesn’t reach for the remote.

In all his eighteen years, Tendou has never had a real birthday party. But he’s never had to spend his birthday alone, either.

He stays seated on the couch, just letting his mind wander, for maybe half an hour before his phone buzzes, the sound a distant clattering on the kitchen counter. Tendou ignores it until it buzzes again two minutes later, reminding him of the unread message.

He’s not sad, he tells himself as he stands and crosses the space between the living room couch and the kitchen counter. Not sad, just kind of… lonely. It’s his birthday, and he’s eighteen, and it’s not that Tendou doesn’t like being alone, it’s just that- well. He misses his mom, he supposes. Misses company.

The text is from Semi, asking where he went.

_ Home _ , Tendou texts back with heavy thumbs.  _ I spend my birthday weekend with my mom _ .

Semi responds almost instantly.

_ is it cool if i stop by i 4got 2 giv u smth _

_ Sure _ , Tendou texts.  _ Nobody’s home but me rn _ .

_ epik _

Tendou’s had over two years to get used to Semi’s texting style, but it still makes him laugh, sometimes.

Semi wouldn’t be judgemental should he find Tendou lounging around on the couch, doing nothing but moping, but Tendou would still rather his boyfriend not see him like that, so he spends the time waiting for Semi to arrive by making the couch look as least-moped-on as it can and tidying up his bedroom. Sure, he’s hardly home, but that doesn’t mean his room reflects that.

Tendou gives up trying to clean his room after about half an hour, and just kicks everything else that he can under his bed. It’s mostly clean anyway, and it’s not like he won’t have plenty of time to clean it later.

He spends the rest of the hour lying on his bed, playing with his Pokemon in a game he hasn’t touched since middle school. His Maractus is as feisty as ever.

There’s a knock at the door and Tendou nearly drops his DS mid-battle. He scrambles out of bed and to the front door, pushes his hair back once just to make sure the spikes stay in place, and then opens the door.

Semi’s changed into non-uniform clothing, a black hoodie with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and these kind of hideous floral print jeans that Tendou secretly loves. He still looks just as tired as he did after practice, and he has a convenience store bag with him, too.

“Hi,” Semi says, and pushes a lock of wet hair out of his eyes; Tendou hadn’t even realised that it had started raining. “Can I come in?”

Tendou opens the door wider and steps back. “Yeah, ‘f course.”

Semi holds onto the bag still as he takes his shoes off. Tendou tries not to think about what might be in it as he closes and locks the door.

“Isn’t your mom usually home?” Semi asks. He’s leaning his back against the entryway wall.

Tendou leans back across from him. Their toes meet in the middle of the hall. “There was an emergency at work and she got called in.”

“Ah.”

Tendou’s staring at the floor, but Semi’s eyes are on his face.

After almost a full minute of silence, Tendou looks up only to find Semi looking toward the rest of Tendou’s apartment, craning his neck to see around the corner and into the kitchen.

“Do you wanna see my room?” Tendou asks. It’s just occurred to him that Semi hasn’t been here since the start of their first year, when he’d brought Tendou his homework when he’d had to stay home because he’d gotten the flu.

Semi starts, like he wasn’t expecting Tendou to say something, looks over his shoulder, smiles. “Sure.”

The strange discomfort between them melts away after that.

Tendou steps into his bedroom and immediately kicks a book he missed under his bed. Semi watches, amused, and moves to sit on Tendou’s bed.

“So,” Tendou says, sits down next to Semi, close enough that their shoulders touch but so there’s still some space between them. “Do-”

Semi interrupts him by putting the plastic bag onto his lap and saying, “I got you something.”

Tendou just stares at him.

Semi scowls and looks back, not actually meeting Tendou’s eyes, just focusing on a spot over his shoulder. “Don’t look at me like that,” he grumbles.

“I’m just kinda surprised,” Tendou says, because they don’t  _ do _ gifts. They’ll watch an entire season of a show together, or treat one another to lunch, or team up against Hayato in card games, but material gifts they just… don’t do.

Semi sighs and pushes his hair back again. “Yeah; I know.”

He pulls a box wrapped in shiny paper, a hideous bright green and Tendou’s favourite colour. There’s no bow, no gift tag, no ribbon. It’s messily wrapped, and flaps absolutely covered in tape. Tendou’s never been happier to receive a gift in his life.

Semi puts the box into Tendou’s lap, and Tendou stares down at it. “You want me to open it  _ now _ ?”

“Yeah?” Semi raises his eyebrows. “I mean, if you don’t want to, then I don’t mind, but-”

He stops talking as Tendou rips at one of the heavily-taped flaps of wrapping paper.

There is so much tape on the gift that it’s really,  _ really _ hard to start unwrapping, but once Tendou gets one tear and he starts to see what it  _ is _ inside, it’s impossible to stop.

Tendou manages to get one whole end unwrapped, so he slides the box out, balls up the paper and tape monstrosity, and throws that onto the floor.

“Eita-”

“Don’t,” Semi interrupts, and he’s not meeting Tendou’s eyes again. “You said you didn’t have any of it on DVD, so I-”

“So you bought me a  _ Naruto box set _ ? Eita, these are-”

“I  _ know _ ,” Semi interrupts again. “And I know we don’t do, like, gifts, or whatever. But this is important to you, and you’re important to me, so.” He’s looking off to the side and at the ground, chewing on his lower lip and eyebrows scrunched into a tiny scowl.

Tendou puts the DVDs on the ground and leans into Semi, pressing his face into the crook of his neck and smiling.

“Oh, god.” Semi turns and wraps his arms around Tendou, which leads to Tendou accidentally toppling them both over with his weight so that Tendou’s lying almost entirely on top of Semi. Semi’s face is buried into Tendou’s own neck now, and Tendou can feel him smiling against his skin. “You’re a sap,” Semi says.

“I didn’t even say anything!”

“Doesn’t matter.” Semi rubs gentle, firm circles into Tendou’s shoulder blades.

Tendou just hums. Some of Semi’s hair is in his mouth.

Semi hums back, and Tendou flinches a bit at the tickle against his neck.

“Can I paint your nails?” Semi asks.

Tendou rolls off of him and onto his own back.”Sure; can I paint yours?”

Semi scoffs. “Of course.”

It turns out that Semi had also brought a bunch of bottles of nail polish in the convenience store bag. There’s the nearly-empty black that Semi always uses for himself, purple, silver, a kind of neon teal, and an unopened bottle of bright, bright green. Tendou reaches for that one and untwists the cap, admires the shiny, bright paint on the brush.

“ _ Of course _ you pick that one,” Semi says, but he’s smiling as he takes the bottle and brush back from Tendou.

Tendou sits patiently while Semi does his nails, holding his hand and painting them in nice, even strokes.  _ This _ isn’t something they do, either, but it’s quiet and nice, and Tendou finds that he likes the change of pace. So he sits still and lets Semi paint his nails.

Semi’s tongue sticks out while he concentrates on the task at hand. Tendou wants to kiss him for it.

Semi looks up halfway through Tendou’s second hand and frowns. “What?”

“Nothing, Semisemi,” Tendou says back, grinning, “you’re just cute.”

Semi goes back to Tendou’s nails, and he’s scowling, but his face is rosy now and he didn’t tell Tendou to shut up, so that’s a win in and of itself.

When Semi finishes, Tendou cups his face in his hands and kisses him.

“Happy birthday,” Semi says against Tendou’s mouth. His voice is too quiet for this, for an empty apartment, for the two of them sitting pressed together on a bed. It’s nice.

It’s so, so nice.

Tendou thinks that he could sit like this forever and never be bored.

“When is your mom coming home?” Semi asks a second later, his voice louder this time, more normal.

“I don’t know,” Tendou says, “like, nine? Why?”

Semi shrugs. “Wanna make cupcakes or take a nap or something?”

“Yes,” Tendou says. He doesn’t know what part he’s agreeing to, maybe just getting to spend the rest of his birthday alone with Semi. But he feels warm and happy all over, having the full attention of one of his favourite people. It definitely beats being alone in the apartment for the rest of the day.

Tendou reaches off the bed with his leg and kicks lightly at the cellophane-wrapped box of DVDs. “How about we break  _ these _ is?”

“Sure.” When Tendou looks back at Semi, he’s smiling, soft and open and unguarded. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> the poem [May 20, 1928](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=38443) by Jorge Luis Borges sparked the idea for the title
> 
> tendou is one of my favourite characters in hq.. probably in like . anything ever actually. but ive never written anything in his point of view before. also my lame ass is a sucker for romance, especially on birthdays.. even if its like . romance lite. so


End file.
